WASHINGTON, Nov 12: The United States stepped up pressure on Wednesday on Iraq’s governing council to help speed the transfer to self-rule in the country.

The US civilian overseer for Iraq, Paul Bremer, emerged from a meeting with US President George Bush saying he would return to Iraq with a message that the White House wants to see results from the US-anointed council members.

“I’ll be taking them a message from the president that he remains steadfast in his determination to defeat terrorism in Iraq and steadfast in his determination to give the Iraqis authority over their country,” the diplomat said. Mr Bremer, who made a surprise dash to Washington a day earlier, met Mr Bush and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the way forward in Iraq, officials said.

“I have made proposals to transfer more authority to the Iraqi Governing Council. And that is the backdrop for all of these discussions,” he told reporters in the rain-soaked White House driveway.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said before the meeting Mr Bush and Mr Bremer would discuss “the importance of accelerating our efforts on all fronts: on the security front, on the political front, and on the reconstruction and economic front.”

Mr Bremer refused to describe further the options on the table, but took aim at criticism of the council, which faces a UN-set Dec 15 deadline to establish a timetable for crafting a new constitution and holding elections.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say the IGC is failing. They face a very difficult situation at this time,” he said.

“I have every confidence that we will be able to work with the governing council and with the ministers.” Some US officials downplayed the likelihood of a specific decision being made in Washington this week.

But a senior US defence official acknowledged that Washington was frustrated with the pace of efforts to build democratic political institutions in Iraq.

The official said the Bush administration wanted to “refine” the process and was mulling options that include using core leadership from the Iraqi Governing Council.

The official said US leaders were also discussing what kind of legislative body might be set up and whether elections should be held before the constitutional process is agreed upon.—AFP